After my death our beloved Church abroad will break three ways ... first the Greeks will leave us as they were never a part of us ... then those who live for this world and its glory will go to Moscow ... what will remain will be those souls faithful to Christ and His Church.~St. Philaret of NY

Brothers, what does it mean that the Church calls the end of Mother of God’s earthly life not death, as we usually refer to this moment in the lives of others, but her Dormition, which is the same as repose, or peaceful sleep; and not only does it not grieve or weep by her coffin, but to the contrary sings joyful, triumphant songs to her departure? That the Most Blessed Mother of the Lord in fact did not die, like ordinary people die, but as if fell asleep for a brief time after her heavy sorrows in life, and that her tomb, which was for her the door to the Heavenly Kingdom, conceals much joy for the Christian. Heavenly incorruption breathes also upon us from this tomb, as from the tomb of the risen Lord; or it would be better to say that this tomb immutably promises to us also immortality of soul and incorruption of body, eradicating the fear of death in us.

Glory to the Conqueror of death, the Lord Jesus! Before His coming, death was very frightening for man because it snatched its prize irreversibly, and there were no means to escape it—for sin, by which death was so strong, was pouring out like a tidal flood and no one was strong enough to stop this flood. Meanwhile, everyone knew that people who were snatched away by death were kept like captives in that place where they usually went after death. It’s true that there were two or three examples of men who did not experience death at all; one of them through prayers and tears was granted postponement from it when it was already completely upon him at the hands of a murderer, and death was not permitted to touch him for another fifteen years. But what are these two or three examples in comparison with the millions of people who died?! Only a drop in the ocean. Especially since the latter case was not entirely consoling for people, because King Hezekiah could not totally escape death, but only obtained through prayer a postponement of it, and the first two—Enoch and Elias—were considered impossible to emulate for the holiness of their lives, for which they were taken up into heaven.

What do we see now, after the Lord’s appearance in our flesh and after His victory over sin and death? The whole horror of death has disappeared; it has become like a peaceful sleep, after which will come the joyful morning of the general resurrection. To the measure of which each of us conquers the sin that still lives in us—and now we have been given all the means we need to conquer it (cf. 2 Pet. 1:3)—the fear of death also disappears, so that the triumphant conquerors of sin joyfully greet their deathbed and do not die, but verily fall tranquilly asleep. “Today,” says St. John Chrysostom, “The Lord has shattered the gates of hell and destroyed the very person of death. But why do I say, the person of death? Even the very name of death has changed, for it is now called not death, but repose and sleep.”

We see the most obvious example of the victory over death in the Most Pure Mother of the Lord. She reclined into the tomb for only a brief rest of the flesh. We say “brief” because according to the testimony of tradition, on the third day after her death, her most pure body was not found in the tomb—it was resurrected and taken to heaven, where it began to delight in the blessedness of heaven along with her soul. After the Mother of God we see the apostles and martyrs who greeted death with joy like the greatest friend, who in exchange for the fleeting good things of this present world, or in exchange for its calamities and sorrows gives them eternal joy in the Kingdom of Heaven. After them we see all the saints, who looked at death with the same joy, seeing in it the end of their earthly labors and the beginning of heavenly glory. The Holy Church tries to settle also into us the same fearlessness of death, exhorting us to cast out the fear of it through the constant uprooting of sins in ourselves, and it calls our dead ones none other than the “reposed”—that is, as if fallen asleep, because now we no longer doubt in the deathless life on the future age, and our right to it is so sure that we cannot or should not look at death in any other way than as sleep. Glory to the endless blessings of God! Before, we sobbed long and inconsolably over our dead and were even allowed to shed tears right over their corpses. My son, said the God-enlightened wise one, shed tears over the dead, and begin to lament… And make mourning for him according to his merit (Sirach 38:1–18). And now instead of weeping over the grave we sing the hymn, Alleluia,or Praise God,giving praise for His divine wisdom and goodness, which have made death a translation into immortality.

Brothers! You have seen the calling of a partaker of heaven in the icon of the all-honorable and glorious Dormition of the Mother of God—how she peacefully reposes. What tranquility and reflection of heavenly joy is in her countenance! It is verily sleep, a brief passing from earth to heaven. Let us also learn by this, and through this assiduity, virtue, and disregard for sinful tendencies, let us make death our peaceful sleep. As long as death reigns in us, death will also be terrible for us, because truly the death of sinners is evil (Ps. 33:22). Sin is the cause of death. For, it is said, the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23).

Let us according to our strength conquer sin in ourselves, as the cause of death. Only at first it is very hard to conquer it, but then it will become easy and sweet, because according to the measure of the increase of the suffering brought on by our struggle with sin, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ (2 Cor. 1:5); and the Lord Who said that His burden is easy and His yoke is light (Matt. 11:30) will surely also make the labor of ascetics easy and life-creating. Furthermore, we value more greatly what is achieved laboriously, and we are more greatly delighted by it. We are created for labors, and not for luxury and inactivity. Yes, heavenly glory, which has no end, is without a doubt worth the labors, according to our strength, of our whole life. This incomparable blessedness, this kingdom of glory is not given without a cost. The Kingdom of Heaven,it is said, suffereth violence,that is, it is obtained by great effort, and the violent take it by force (Matt. 11:12).

Isn’t the reason we are so lazy about conquering passions and evil inclinations in ourselves that we have such weak faith in the life of the future age? But this future age is just as sure as our present life. Won’t the One Who has given us the beginning of life here on earth give us the full and perfect life in heaven?! Yes, this inevitably must be, and it is harder for it not to be than to be. And we are assured of it by God’s unlying word. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, it says, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation (Jn. 5:28–29).

Brothers! Eternal life beyond the grave is not subject to any doubt. But neither can there be even the slightest doubt that it can be ambiguous: For the righteous it is blessed, but for hardened sinners it is torment. There is a limit to death, a borderline between the present and future life, and we do not know whether it is far or near to us. Let us be ever ready to step over this threatening borderline between two lives. Amen.

Fr. Seraphim Rose predicted that the future of ROCOR would see a number of fragments all continually anathematizing each other. A recent attack and counter-attack has just been published:

Awaiting the Arrival of Archbishop Tikhon in Australia,

by ROCANA Bp. Andrei Erastov

vs.

In Defence of Archbishop Tikhon (RTOC),

by Vladimir Moss

This particular attack/counter-attack reveals some elements of truth.

One truth that comes out is in the beginning of ROCANA Bishop Andrei's attack where he reminds us that from the very beginning of RTOC it was aiming at jurisdictional ecumenism (paragraph 2). I guess RTOC changed its tune later when that no longer suited their agenda.

Another truth is something Vladimir Moss notes in his counter-attack about the ROCANA schism –– that ROCANA has only recently spoken against Cyprianism (paragraph 8). This is something I noticed too. I guess ROCANA changed its tune also to suit its agenda.

One thing common to the fragments is the inconsistencies and justifications, the chaos and strife. While our ROCOR under Metropolitan Agafangel just keeps going forward peacefully one with the rest of the Sister Churches.

A note from Orthodox Russia 1981, translated and published in Orthodox Life 1981 (3) p. 49, speaking of schismatics:

It is better that they fall away now, that those who remain will draw more closely together.

CHURCH OF TRUE ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS OF GREECE DIOCESE OF KANANGAAdministrator: Ambrose, Bishop of Methoni18/31 July 2018 Bishop Ambrose with Father Philippe Mutombo and Doctor Patrice KamfufuAPPEAL FOR SAINT PETER’S CLINICFor the first time in the twenty-six years that I have been bishop, I have decided to launch a general appeal for a project that is close to my heart, hoping that all those who are able to do so may contribute to this worthy cause. In the city of Kananga in the Democratic Republic of Congo (population around one million), there functions, under the auspices of our diocese, a small clinic. The director is the Reverend Philippe Mutombo, a trained nurse, and the medical and surgical procedures are performed by Doctor Patrice Kamfufu, a pious and dedicated Orthodox Christian, assisted by two other trained nurses. Medical services are offered free of charge to all our parishioners. The buildings used at present are a miserable pair of mud-built cottages, and the medical equipment available is utterly inadequate even for the simple procedures carried out there: appendicitis, hernia, and cesarian operations, as well as treatment of malaria, typhus and so on. I would like firstly to house the clinic in a more suitable building, and then provide the basic equipment - hospital beds, sterilising equipment, microscopes, drugs etc - to assure proper treatment and a clean environment.

For this purpose, a special account has been opened, and I request that any aid be sent directly to this account, not to myself; I do, however, request that you inform me by email at ambrose@hsir.org of any sums sent, so that I can keep account. On the sum received depends the nature of the projected work: either the construction of a new building to be built on the territory of our mission headquarters in Kananga, or the acquisition and transformation of an existing structure. May God richly bless all those who are able to contribute either with funds or their prayers.Bank: Rawbank, Kananga, Kasai Central, Democratic Republic of Congo Account name: Mutombo MukadiSwift Code: RAWBCDKIAccount Number: 05190-00156247201-37+Ambrose, Bishop of Methoni, administrator of the Kananga Diocese

I will tell you, dear readers, about a remarkable man, who turned out to be one of those people with whom God wanted to somehow cross the road of my life.

My short narrative, this time, will be about the bishop of ROCOR Mitrophane (Znosko-Borovskoye).

My meetings and communication with this person did not last long, only five years - since the beginning of my ten-year ministry in 1997, a clergyman of the Znamensky Synodal Council of the ROCOR in New York and until 2002-that is, until the end of the life of Vladyka Mitrofan, February 2002

In St. Seraphim's temple in Sea Cliff, where the Lord had presided, I happened to be only once, on a temple feast, but almost every one of his visits to the synod services in the Synod provided me with a good opportunity to get to know this person better - Vladyka Mitrofan continued to serve his deep old age.

I can say that with Vladika Mitrofan we were brought together by our common selfless love for everything that is real Russian, for Russian people, for the Church and for the Fatherland - for our Holy Russia, which we, as a people, were not saved, lost.

For me - an enthusiastic lover of church history, law and Christian apologetics, a very large amount of knowledge was very attractive in Vladyka Mitrofan, which leads him to the level of an ancient one in the field of apologetics. Every visit of Vladika Mitrofan to the Synod and serving with him was a holiday for me.

Even Vladyka Mitrofan revealed himself as a very honest and decent man - a Christian in whom there is no guile: for which there is only "yes" and only "no."

I was personally acquainted, I served and communicated not only with Vladyka Mitrofan Znosko-Borovsky, but also with his "right hand" - selflessly worshiping Vladyka, faithful spiritual son of his - Archpriest Sergius Klestov.

To my great regret and heartache, Vladyka Mitrofan, all the time, as I knew him, with confidence in my own right, even without a shadow of doubt and fearlessly advocated the early joining of the ROCOR with the MP, actively collected the funds and assistance that we, after the collapse of the USSR, sent by containers who need Russia. For example, for the construction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Metropolitan Mitrofan organized the collections and transferred more than $ 100,000 to the Moscow Patriarchate only from his St. Seraphim parish in Sea Cliff.

The future rector, Archpriest Sergiy Klestov, who was raised and learned by Vladyka Mitrophan and his spiritual son, a hope, a favorite, and prepared for the St. Seraphim's Temple in Sea Cliff, was just as openly "emshnikom" ("MP is our mother-church!").

February 15, 2002, but suddenly a real miracle of transfiguration happened!

On the eve of his death, already on his deathbed, Vladyka Mitrofan received a vision from above, which changed him, Fr. Sergius Klestov and split the St. Seraphim parish, which was also 100% "emblematic" at the time.

Dying, literally in the hands of his spiritual son Fr.Sergius, in the presence of his daughter and two other parishioners, Vladika with tears in his eyes shocked those present: he begged and pleaded with God for Father Fr.Sergius and the parish to remain in the bosom of the ROCOR and in no case to unite with the Moscow Patriarchate prematurely - until "the MP does not cease its heretical ecumenical activity in the World Council of Churches and condemns the Declaration of the Mysteries of 1927.Sergius (Stragorodsky) !!!!

And about. Sergius and all three of the witnesses mentioned above are still alive: if any of the readers are interested in this story and there is a desire to be convinced of the truthfulness of my words, you can freely communicate and talk with Archpriest Sergius Klestov, or with any of the other three witnesses of the blessed and marvelous demise of this a remarkable man - Mitrofan, Bishop of Boston, vicar of the Eastern American and New York diocese of ROCOR.

I'm happy and happy with my soul that we, Vladyka Mitrofan (Znosko-Borovsky), have remained and are in the same Church of Christ.

+ Peace, O Lord, the soul of your faithful servant, Bishop Mitrofan, in a place brighter, in a place of evil, in a place of peace, where the Light of Your Face is sitting down! Amen.

The schismatic-heretics formerly in the ROCA[Mountain View schism]made the following statement on August 20, 2013:

____________________

Statement of the ROCA Bishops

(Diaspora District of the Russian Orthodox Church)

http://www.rocana.org/page/home.en/638

As the episcopal consecrations of several of our Bishops were performed with the participation of Bishops from the Synod of Metropolitan Cyprian (Kutsumbas), we believe that it is necessary to clarify our position in regard to the ecclesiology of this hierarch.

We, as archpastors of Christ’s flock, never adhered to the teachings of Met. Cyprian, as expressed in his work "Ecclesiological Theses." We do not accept his teachings, are not guided by them in our archpastoral work, and do not regard them as Orthodox.

With respect to the Churches of "World Orthodoxy," we adhere to the traditional ecclesiology of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, which is foreign to both extremes.

Archbishop Andronik

Archbishop Sofroniy

Bishop Stefan (note below)

Bishop Andrei

Due to the state of his health, Bishop Stefan was unable to participate in composing this statement. His name has been included as a member of the Council of Bishops and also because the rejection of Met. Cyprian’s teachings was one of the conditions for the unification of the dioceses of Bishop Stefan and Archbishop Andronik.

____________________

In fact, any kind of schismatics and heretics have never adhered to the traditional ecclesiology of the Russian Church Abroad, as they say, "by definition," since this ecclesiology was always incomprehensible to them, unknown and unknowable. This is evidenced once again by their current "statement."

Among other evidences of many untruths committed by them, the schismatics on their page on the Internet (http://www.rocana.org/page/home.ru) placed in the links section at the bottom of the page a link to the South American diocese, which, allegedly, is part of their jurisdiction (South American Diocese). This is a direct and already long-term lie of heretics, because the South American Diocese, under the omophorion of His Grace Bishop Gregory, Bishop of Sao Paulo and South America, now resides as a member of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, represented by the Synod of Bishops, under the chairmanship of His Eminence Metropolitan Agathangelus.

To the schismatics and deceitful deeds they are directly related to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ: "Your father is the devil." When he speaks a lie, he speaks his own, for he is a liar and the father of lies "(Jn. 8:44). Lying is a lie: "By their fruits you will know them" (Mt 7.16).

As a result of the discussion on the recent history of the ROCOR [aka ROCA, aka Church Abroad], it became clear that some clerics and laity can not identify among a number of splits where the real ROCOR and mistakenly accept the former part with which the MP united in 2007 for such.

The splinter "splinters" from the ROCOR should be distinguished from the ROCOR itself and not confused with it - it's all the same if you do not see the obvious differences between the patriarchal ROC (MP) and the UOC-K (K) or the current Ukrainian split.

Repeatedly I have already written earlier on what canonical signs determine the split.

However, for my explanation, some readers do not react and twist and twirl their thoughtless barrel organ - the ROCOR schism! ROCOR split! ROCOR split!

During the history of its existence, the ROCOR has been split many times and even the splits from the ROCOR have been split up and are still being split, but this does not mean that the ROCOR itself was not.

So precisely, the Universal Church of Christ is historically constantly cleansed of spiritual rot: from Catholics, Old Catholics, Monophysites. And those junctions in turn fall into secondary schisms and heresies: Anglicans, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Methodists, Adventists, etc. etc. ...

In 2007, the MP joined not with the ROCOR, but with its spiritually rotten part, which split from the ROCOR and is now called ROCOR(MP).

Concerning this schismatic ROCOR(MP), I give the following explanation:

As the spiritually rotten part of the ROCOR was falling away from Christ in my mind, it was happening for more than a quarter of a century, in the behavior and statements of the episcopate, the clergy and some active laity, their hostility towards the First Hierarch Metr was becoming more and more insolent. Vitaly and to the traditional position of the ROCOR, expressed in categorical rejection of the heresy of ecumenism, rejection of the then not yet condemned heresy of Sergianism and church modernism.

Against this background, more and more in the same people, an open craving for the "Mother Church" appeared to the Moscow Patriarchate, especially after the Council of the MP in 2000, at which the bishops of the MP under the pressure of the people were forced to "glorify" the Tsar-martyr of Emperor Nicholas II - ranked as martyrs (ie, all the blame for the regicide was specifically assigned to the Russian people!)

Obvious work to undermine the traitors of the ROCOR was seen and felt true and it was obvious where everything was rolling and how it would end.

Unionites - bishops and "venerable" priests of the ROCOR for a long time led subversive activities and played a tricky and dirty card: they endlessly traveled to and fro in the Russian Federation, met almost openly and negotiated with representatives of the MPs on the connection, called "private" talks even ROCOR schism, and the MP - the Mother-Church-Martyr and immoral individuals promoted to the episcopate of the ROCOR.

Their idea had a twofold meaning: [MP's evil scheme used two tactics simultaneously]

• On the one hand, they consciously "lowered" the Church so that the structure of the White Church became connected with the Red Church.

• On the other hand, they needed somehow to get rid of the spiritual ballast, [known today as the super-correct R-fragments] from the "fanatics" -that is, from the best part of the clergy and laity who were consciously the children of the ROCOR, and for such a case it was necessary to shake the Church Abroad so that " fanatics "themselves shook themselves out of the ROCOR, even though they split up through the schisms, or invented for themselves some other "ROCOR" and did not interfere under the feet of the Unionites.

So it actually happened: many "simple as doves" honest and conscientious people, seeing all this disgrace and disintegration in the ROCOR, could not stand it, separated from the Church through schisms and who could do it.

Those who were not only simple, but also wise, to save the ROCOR from the Unionites remained with us - in the "Loyal Opposition of the ROCOR" formed by us - in the patient expectation of the opposite: when the traitors-Unionites from the ROCOR leave, and we remain in it , preserving both the Church and our canonicalness.

Unfortunately, most people, even among modern clergy, do not have interest and do not have canonical knowledge, therefore they do not have a canonical perception of the Church, for example, my correspondence with the archpriest of the ROCOR(MP), Mikhail Taratukhin, is a good example.

In this regard, many who did not want to follow the traitors of the ROCOR, were guided not by holy canons, but only by their own emotions and conscience.

So it turned out that when observing the spiritual rottenness of the ROCOR and clearly realizing how it would end, for spiritual self-preservation, to get into the quagmire of the Moscow ecumenical bog, fragments began to fall away from the ROCOR one by one (on directed activities and participation in the process of the agency MP I will not say). There are splits of the ROAC, then the ROCiE (Mansonville), the RTOC parasynagogue, and then a whole series of splits from these splits and parasynagogues, for whose name there is not even a canonical terminology.

Lesninsky Monastery, if I'm not mistaken, almost stayed with us in the ROCOR, but before the very unit of the schismatics-laurels with the MP also left the ROCOR, joining the RTOC parasynagogue.

On May 17, 2017, under the leadership of Met. The Lavra, another part of the ROCOR broke away from the ROCOR and joined the Sergian ecumenical schism of the MP.

However, a significant part of the faithful did not disappear from the ROCOR and did not join the MP in 2007 - did not go away anywhere and remained and was preserved by itself.

This of course does not mean that after 2007, the schism has come to an end and quiet times have come. Recently, another rotten part fell from the ROCOR as a double sore - in the US and Russia, and this time, too, it seems, not without help and influence from outside.

In order to understand with whom the MP in 2007 joined and decide where the real ROCA is located, we list some of the main signs of the Church Abroad:

1. ROCOR, originally, and this is spelled out in the ROCOR's Church Charter, is called ROCOR.

-A whole church grouping with a different name or brackets is not ROCOR. (ROCOR(MP), RTOC, ROAC and RRTC, CIDP, etc. - not the Church Abroad)

2. ROCOR, by right, inherited through Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky), has the right of verification.

-According to the Act of Canonical Intercourse with the MP, ROCOR(MP), this right is lost and received by St. mvro [holy myrrh, chrism?]personally from the patriarch of the MP

3. ROCOR[machine translation: RPCZ], according to the Charter, convenes All-Diaspora Councils of clergy, monastics and laity.

-According to the Act of Canonical Communion, All-Diaspora Councils in the ROCOR(MP) were abolished.

4. ROCOR is an inseparable part of the Russian Local Church - it is spelled out in the ROCOR Charter.

-MP, if you close both canonical eyes, at best you could pretend to be considered part of the Local Russian Church. Consequently, the "Lavrovsky" ROCOR(MP) is at best only part of the Local Church at best. However, this ROCOR has always been and is part of the POST RUSSIAN Church, and the ROC MP is not Russian, but Russian and not the Local Church at all!

5. The ROCOR chooses and appoints its First Hierarch - this is spelled out in the ROCOR Charter.

-According to the Act of Canonical Communion in the ROCOR(MP), the First Hierarch, elected by the Bishops' Council, is approved by the Patriarch and the Synod of the MP.

There are other differences between ROCOR(MP) from the Church Abroad, but also the examples given, as they say, of any canonical roof above!

I hope that our readers will no longer get lost in the two pines and will understand that the ROCOR(MP) is not the Church Abroad, like all the other "children of Lieutenant Schmidt" like it - ROAC, ROCiE, RTOC, B, BB, e. etc.

After the union of 2007, the ROCOR under the omofor of Metropolitan Agafangel (Pashkovsky) remained the same and the only ROCOR and no other ROCOR was before, no, and can not be!

Bishop Agafangel and the faithful remnant of the ROCOR patiently, realizing the canonical seriousness of the situation and the need to preserve the canonical ROCOR, continued to communicate with Met. Lavrov and his Synod until the moment of signing Met. Laurel and patr. Alexis II of the Act of Canonical Communion on May 17, 2017 in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior., Ie, until the moment when the foreign Unionites left for the split of the MP.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, May 17, 2017 Bishop Agafangel made a formal canonical statement that the Lavra-Unionites from the ROCOR went to the Sergianist split of the MP, and he and the faithful remnant of the ROCOR remained in the ROCOR in the same position, and in this connection they interrupt church communication with the Synod of Met. Lavra on the basis of the 33rd and 32nd Rules of the Holy Laodicean Council and the 45th and 46th Rules of the Holy Apostle.

It should be said a few words for those who, despite everything above, will continue to call the splendid remnant of the ROCOR after 2007, because the alleged "other Lavrovsky" part of the ROCOR was also before the split with the MP, but having joined the ROC MP ceased to be, and the fertile remnant of the ROCOR, remaining the same ROCOR, remained the same foreign schism.

Obviously, in fact, only for self-assertion in the eyes of their children, the MP for decades called the ROCOR a split. If the ROCOR were viewed by Moscow as a church schism, then on May 17, 2007 there would be no "reunification," but a canonical procedure would be carried out based on the rank of admission from the schism in the Church. However, as we know, to all of us are witnesses, the connection has passed, as the union of two equivalent churches. This shows that from the point of view of the MP, the ROCOR has never been a schism!

If anyone in the MP has the idea to call the ROCOR's graceful remnant a schism because, allegedly before the union with the "Mother Church", the ROCOR was split, the "canonical stick" is, as we see, two ends: it means that the MP itself has become a schism May 17, 2017, because, according to the Act of Canonical Unity, united with the split and itself became a split.

This circumstance does not give rest to the MP and will not give them peace until the real Russian Church - the canonical, according to the word of St. John of Shanghai - "pure as a crystal" of the ROCOR exists.

AD

AD

THE SISTER CHURCHES

The True Orthodox Churches of Romania, and Bulgaria, and with the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, and with the Synod in Resistance, are called by the Grace of the Lord to coexist in Mysteriological communion.

from §4 of “Schedule of Steps in the Union Process” Feb. 2014

VL AGAFANGEL PRAYER

Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Theotokos and all the Saints: keep our souls unharmed from the destructive influences of globalism, ecumenism, and sergianism, and give all of us the strength to endure the latest onset of persecution of the Church of Christ. Amen

QUOTE

"I have taken you in my arms, and I love you, and I prefer you to my life itself. For the present life is nothing, and my most ardent dream is to spend it with you... I place your love above all things, and nothing would be more bitter or painful to me than to be of a different mind than you.”

St. John Chrysostom

QUOTE

"If we have a good priest (or bishop), we give thanks to God. If a bad one, we endure him".

- old Russian saying

QUOTE

"And here is something to which I would like to draw your attention to – something about which very many do not think about. Father Archimandrite Constantine, whom probably many of you know, the reposed editor of the journal “Orthodox Rus’”, a profound Christian mind, considered that the most terrible among all the achievements of the communists was that the communists created their own false-church, a soviet church which they shoved onto the unfortunate people in place of the genuine Church which went underground into the catacombs. Do not think that I am exaggerating or that Father Constantine was exaggerating!

Once, in the year 1918, a Pan-Russian Church Council was held. At this Council, the entire Pan-Russian Church together with its first holy hierarch, Patriarch Tikhon anathematized, excommunicated from the Church not only the theomachists and godless ones themselves, but also all those who would collaborate with them."

~St. Philaret of NY

QUOTE

"To the Russians abroad, it has been granted to shine in the whole world with the light of Orthodoxy, so that other peoples, seeing their good deeds, might glorify our Father Who is in heaven, and thus obtain salvation for themselves. But if it does not perform this purpose and even abases Orthodoxy by its life, the Diaspora will have before itself two paths: either to be converted to the path of repentance, having acquired forgiveness through prayer to God and being reborn spiritually and to being capable of giving rebirth to our suffering homeland; or else being rejected by God and remaining in banishment, persecuted by everyone, until gradually it will degenerate and disappear from the face of the earth."

from Vladika John's report to the All-Diaspora Sobor in 1938

QUOTE

The apostasy of our times, to a degree unique in Christian history, is proceeding not primarily by false teachings or canonical deviations, but rather by a false understanding of Orthodoxy on the part of those who may even be perfectly Orthodox in their dogmatic teaching and canonical situation. A correct "Orthodoxy" deprived of the Spirit of true Christianity—this is the meaning of Sergianism, and it cannot be fought by calling it a "heresy," which it is not, nor by detailing its canonical irregularities, which are only incidental to something much more important.

- Russia's Catacomb Saints

QUOTE

Let it not be thought, however, that I affirm that it is necessary to prize every peace. For I know that there is a splendid disagreement and the most destructive unanimity. Yet one must love a good peace which has a good purpose: unity with God.

-St. Gregory the Theologian

QUOTE

... To pious Christians the fact that the world has fallen into godlessness is to them obvious, and they are ready to see it as an unfortunate historical inevitability ...

Professor Viktor Trostinkov

QUOTE

If you want to have assurance that you are saved, repent now that you are young and healthy and it is manifest that you left sin while you were still able to sin. But if you persevere in sin into your old age, why then you did not leave sin, but rather sin left you.

St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain

QUOTE

Live in peace not only with your friends, but also with your enemies; but only your personal enemies, and not the enemies of God.

St. Theodosius of the Kiev Caves

QUOTE

Judge not according to appearances, but judge righteous judgment.

St. John 7:24

QUOTE

"If Russia is not ressurrected, a new Golgotha threatens the whole world."

Priest Vladimir Evsukoff 1980†

QUOTE

A man who does not express a desire to link himself to the latest of the saints (in time) in all love and humility owing to a certain distrust in himself, will never be linked to the preceding saints and will not be admitted to their succession, even though he thinks he possesses all possible faith and love for God and for all His saints. He will be cast out of their midst, as one who refused to take humbly the place allotted to him by God before all time, and to link himself to that latest saint (in time) as God had disposed.

St. Symeon the New Theologian

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SCOBA, to which world orthodoxy gives such great significance, reproaching us for not belonging to it, actually is in no way a canonical organ. The Russian Church Outside of Russia was invited to take part in these conferences; however, our Church refused to send representatives there after clergy of the Moscow Patriarchate were invited. "We never and nowhere will sit at one table with them; by this our spiritual communion with the Universal Church is not broken."

Archpriest George Grabbe 1969

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"Let us always thank the Lord that we are in the Holy Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, which throughout the 80 years of its existence has trodden the straight, royal path of God, without ever turning aside and losing its way."

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The passions lying hidden in the soul provide the demons with the means of arousing impassioned thoughts in us. Then, fighting the intellect through these thoughts, they force it to give its assent to sin. When it has been overcome, they lead it to sin in the mind; and when this has been done they induce it, captive as it is, to commit the sin in action. Having thus desolated the soul by means of these thoughts, the demons then retreat, taking the thoughts with them, and only the spectre or idol of sin remains in the intellect. Referring to this our Lord says, 'When you see the abominable idol of desolation standing in the holy place (let him who reads understand)... (Matt 24:15). For man's intellect is a holy place and a temple of God in which the demons, having desolated the soul by impassioned thoughts, set up the idol of sin. That these things have already taken place in history no one, I think, who has read Josephus will doubt; though some say that they will also come to pass in the time of the Antichrist.

Philokalia

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There are three things that impel us towards what is holy: natural instincts, angelic powers, and probity of intention. Natural instincts impel us, when, for example, we do to others what we would wish them to do to us (cf. Luke 6:31), or when we see someone suffering deprivation or in need and naturally feel compassion. Angelic powers impel us when, being ourselves impelled to something worthwhile, we find we are providentially helped and guided. We are impelled by probity of intention when, discriminating between good and evil, we choose the good.

Philokalia

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The outward Gospel of social idealism is a symptom of loss of faith.

Fr. Seraphim Rose

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Impurity of intellect consists first in having false knowledge, ...

Philokalia

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Isn't Marx really the third of a trio with Darwin and Freud as a practical source in the war against revealed truth?

Fr. Seraphim Rose

Letters, 1972

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To: ROCA members from the MP

"You have to understand that you have long been in a false church, which implants in its members' souls, a false spirituality, which in turn takes root and grows stronger and stronger, the longer a man stays in it."

Bishop Athanasius, 2014

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Mankind has gone mad, and we see with horror the abyss into which it is being drawn. Let us lay aside every worldly care, and let us fall down in prayer and readiness for the dread Judgment of the Lord. Death will not come with bombs and poisons. Death has already come and take up residence with us and in us, and has made corpses of us, Mammon has overwhelmed this sinful world, which is dominated by Queen Science, Lucifer himself, which with one hand makes medicines and machines for man's foolish happiness and with the other terrorizes him by means of the bomb! Such is the sorry state of knowledge and the agony of the world through and through. Let us lift up our hearts.

-Photios Kontoglou (†1965) letter to Dr. Cavarnos dated 5/10/57

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"Psychopaths are a superior subspecies. We transcend humanity. We are Nature's Supermen. We deserve the subservience and availability of everyone around us. Luckily, every year 100-million people are born throughout the world. We have 100-million new choices every year."

-Sam Vaknin, self-realized psychopath

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Our Saviour placed the Church in the world in order to save the world, and Satan is always trying to place the world into the Church in order to destroy the Church.

attributed to Desert Fathers

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"If you see lying and hypocrisy, expose them in front of all, even if they are clothed inpurple and fine linen."

HALL OF SHAME

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"No one man, or group of men, can himself speak for the Church of Christ. It is nonetheless possible to speak from within the Church, in conformity with Orthodox tradition; and it is this that we shall attempt to do."